Nirvino

Even if you haven't started entertaining outdoors yet, there are plenty of alfresco food and wine events for you to attend. Judging by Owensboro, KY's International Bar-B-Q Festival and Southpark, NC's Beer, Bourbon, & BBQ, grilling season has already begun.

This week, we're excited to head over to San Francisco's picturesque Marina to attend a cocktail crawl hosted by some of the city's top mixologists.

Where will you be this week? We want to hear about your plans in the comments below.

• Chicago, IL: Wine Enthusiast Toast of the Town — May 6
• Hartford, CT: Taste of the Nation Hartford — May 6
• Las Vegas, NV: Vegas Uncork'd — May 6-9
• Owensboro, KY: International Bar-B-Q Festival — May 7-8
• San Francisco, CA: Nirvino Mixology in the Marina Cocktail Crawl — May 8
• Southpark, NC: Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival — May 8
• Portland, OR: Portland Indie Wine Festival — May 8
• San Francisco, CA: Bacon Camp — May 8
• Washington, DC: World Cocktail Week Dinner — May 10
• Rockville, MD: Slow Food DC Lecture Series Kickoff — May 10
• New York, NY: The Great South African Wine Show — May 11

In the know about a fabulous event? Spread the word in our Noteworthy Nibbles group in the YumSugar Community!

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On Tuesday night I was lucky enough to be among a select group of Nirvino users to attend a special tasting at San Francisco's Fifth Floor. The restaurant recently launched an old-fashioned tableside bar service in which the bartender, spirits extraordinaire and all-around amazing guy Steven Liles, prepares drinks at your table. The 1950s-style wooden cart is stocked with all the necessary tools to create beautiful and delicious cocktails. While at our table, Liles stirred classic gin martinis and chatted about the history of the cart. He's a seasoned pro who can tell when the concoction is ready simply by touch, but for home bartenders, he recommends 20 stirs to the right and 20 stirs to the left. Since my preferred gin for a martini is Plymouth, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Beefeater one — it was perfectly balanced. To get his recipe for the classic cocktail, read more

Do you have an iPhone? Then stop what you're doing right now and download the Nirvino (my preferred online drinking community) wine ratings guide. With over one million wines listed by name, price, grape varietal, flavor profile, region, and producer, the wine application is an amazing resource to always have at your fingertips.

Not only does it provide food pairing suggestions, but there's also lots of fun lists to browse. Food Network's Aida Mollenkamp shares her favorite wines to drink while cooking, Sommelier Mark Bright rounded up his top bottles from Whole Foods, and yours truly has even created a list!

I headed to Safeway to pick out the best wines — all of which are under $20 — for hostess gifts. I've tasted and enjoyed these wines and would bring them to a party. Be it a birthday bash at Hog Island oyster farm, an intimate Thanksgiving dinner, or an upcoming holiday soirée, there's a bottle for every occasion. To check out my list, keep reading.

• Introducing the newest must-have wine application for your iPhone. — Nirvino
• Fabio Viviani's cookbook by the numbers. — Eat Me Daily
• Here are 21 tasty bar snack recipes. — Chow
• Everything you need to know about buying sustainable seafood. — Sunset
• Eight common fast foods you should avoid. — SF Weekly
• Michael Pollan's next mission: reform health care. — Grub Street
• The real reason Hector was kicked off of Top Chef? His thermometer didn't work.— The Feedbag
• Is it OK to serve pesto at a dinner party? — The Epi-Log
• This lavender honey spice cake is seriously Italian. — Serious Eats
• Eater is expanding and looking for bloggers/photographers in a city near you. — Eater

Listen up budding home bartenders! I've got an exciting new recipe for you to experiment with. Crafted by Danny Louie of San Francisco's Dosa, the Peony is an exotic mix of coconut milk, hibiscus syrup, fresh lime juice, and gin. The cocktail was created to mimic the flavors of the Indian cuisine served at Dosa. Don't be fooled by the thick pink appearance of this concoction. While it may resemble a strawberry milkshake, the taste and texture are more similar to a piña colada. The coconut milk coats the mouth likening a tropical beach vacation. The heavy lime aroma is tart and fresh, and the gin is only apparent on the smooth finish. In a word this cocktail is fabulous! I first enjoyed it at Nirvino's recent gin seminar and have plans to seek it out again soon.

For those of you who can't get to Dosa, but want to impress your friends with this drink (and mixology skills!) check out the recipe — there's also a video of Danny making it so read more

Gin can be a polarizing spirit. With the exception of a few gin and tonics, I've always avoided it; however, a bunch of new gins on the market have converted me into a gin lover. One such gin, Right gin, is my current favorite.

Recently, I was invited to a seminar hosted at the brand's loft, here in San Francisco. The event was put on by Nirvino, the awesome social-drinking website that let's you rate cocktails and wine, and led by bad-boy bartender Josh Harris of 15 Romolo. Harris discussed the essentials to building a home bar and walked us through a blind gin-tasting.

To find out more about the tasting and check out all my images from the event, keep reading